1969-000A

The following writing is from the general introduction to this site. I chose to include it here because the approach that Monique had undertaken in the years 1969-70 which was to denounce sexism and eroticism (female subject) in advertising and society in general through her art seems to be a battle of the past. After reading this short text, go to the next page / picture and see what is happening 40 years later ...
I offer you here an amusing anecdote about an article that appeared in a newspaper in September 1970. The title of the article was: ’’ An erotic painter works out of a disaffected sacristy of the Fathers of the Holy Sacrament building. '' In fact, Monique had her studio in a disused sacristy in their building. She created and taught there. The ''scandal'' forced her to leave her studio. Here's what she said in response in the newspapers: ‘‘I did not want to do exhibitionism. My painting has a ‘’informational’’ character in that it draws on eroticism in advertising, as it invades us in North America. ’’ She also wrote: ''I'm an artist and my way of denouncing the phenomenon of ‘‘women as objects'' in our society is to paint, to caricature with humour, sarcasm and irony. That upsets a certain mentality, certain groups of people and they counter-attacked. '' In a letter written in 1985, she said this: ''The story’s that journalists write about a person or a topical may contain certain ‘‘inaccuracies’’: these folks earn their living trying to make their ''stories' attract the eye. So they sometimes seek scandal, sometimes exaggeration ... A bit of ''sensationalism'' is always sort of fair play ... No, I have no other child except for Cybèle whatever the number that newspapers sometimes attributed to me ... No, I'm not an erotic painter, yes, it was to try to minimize the impact of my ideas that they wrote that. Yes, it did me harm then: it made me lose my studio. Yes, that is how politics often work. No, it is not ''just for fun'' that groups clash ideas and things happen ...''

***** (Text: 1970, 1985, photo: 1970.
I have chosen to present this at the beginning of
1969, because it is the year that she started her battle.)